At least 41 people were killed and more than 180 injured in a Russian missile attack in the central Ukrainian city of Poltava, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram on Tuesday.
Two ballistic missiles targeted “an educational institution and a nearby hospital” in the area, Zelensky said.
According to the president, a building of the telecommunications institute was destroyed.
“We continue to urge everyone in the world who has the power to stop this terror: Ukraine needs air defense systems and missiles now, not just stockpiled,” Zelensky said.
Unconfirmed images are circulating on social media showing bodies in front of a heavily damaged multi-storey building, believed to be the military institute of telecommunications and computerisation of the Kiev Polytechnic Institute in Poltava.
According to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, at least 25 people were rescued from the rubble. In the adjacent residential area, windows were smashed and facades damaged by the blast wave.
Ukraine has been fighting a full-scale Russian invasion for more than two years, relying heavily on weapons and air defense systems supplied by Western partners.
Zelensky calls on his allies almost daily to increase supplies so that Ukraine can better protect Ukrainian cities from airstrikes.
